News & Comment

Identifying and increasing access to the highest quality chemical probes will ensure their prominent position in the biological and drug discovery toolboxes.

Mechanisms are needed to initiate, develop and support emerging research communities that cross traditional scientific and geographic boundaries.

Understanding the structure and function of carbohydrates remains a key challenge for chemical biologists. Developments in carbohydrate synthesis and analysis together with the advent of high-throughput methods such as carbohydrate microarrays have helped shed light on the function of glycoconjugates. Similarly, consortia have provided technology platforms and focus to a burgeoning field. Now, recruitment of scientists from related fields and further integration of chemistry and biology to achieve technical goals are needed for rapid advancements.

Enhanced crosstalk between plant and chemical biologists will lead to major advances in our molecular understanding of plant biology.

Chemical biology is beginning to enhance our understanding of diverse cellular processes in plants, including endomembrane trafficking, hormone transport and cell wall biosynthesis. To reach its potential requires the development of a community-wide infrastructure of technology and expertise. We present some of the opportunities and challenges in this emerging branch of plant biology and offer some suggestions for enhancing the approach to the benefit of the community at large.

With a new administration and pending increases in scientific funding, chemical biologists in the United States have an unprecedented opportunity to influence the national scientific agenda.

Scientific principles and practices come together in a unique program for future scientists.

Providers and users of chemical libraries must adopt quality and reporting standards to advance the impact of small-molecule high-throughput screening.

Receptor heteromers constitute a new area of research that is reshaping our thinking about biochemistry, cell biology, pharmacology and drug discovery. In this commentary, we recommend clear definitions that should facilitate both information exchange and research on this growing class of transmembrane signal transduction units and their complex properties. We also consider research questions underlying the proposed nomenclature, with recommendations for receptor heteromer identification in native tissues and their use as targets for drug development.